Information collected during Internet browsing has traditionally been used to select entities for the delivery of online advertising and/or customized content. For example, a direct measurement system can collect information associated with entities such as individual Internet browser installations used to browse the Internet. When an entity requests content from a content provider over a network, such as a request from a web browser operating on a personal computer to display the content of a web page of an online publisher, the content provider can re-direct the entity to submit a request such as a pixel request to the direct measurement system. For example, the content provider can tell the entity that the entire content is not available at the content provider and direct the entity to retrieve the missing portion of the content from another resource, such as the direct measurement system. A pixel request refers to the case where the missing portion of the content is a pixel. In some cases, the missing portion can be a single, invisible pixel. Based on a request such as a pixel request, and optional subsequent actions and/or interactions, the direct measurement system can collect and/or receive information from the entity and/or information associated with the entity. This is an example of a way to collect a consumption history, describing the consumption of media received by an entity over a network, per entity.
An entity can be selected for the delivery of online advertising and/or customized content based on the contents of an entity's consumption history. In some cases, behavioral models for an audience segment of interest can be developed based on the consumption histories of entities in the audience segment. Subsequently, an entity's suitability for selection can be assessed by applying the behavioral model to the entity's consumption history. However, in some cases, content providers may not elect to integrate with a direct measurement system. For example, a content provider such as an online vendor may not want to share information related to consumption events on their websites for privacy reasons. In other cases, content providers may balk at the requirements for integration. In some examples, consumption events associated with un-integrated content providers are not included in the consumption histories collected by the direct measurement system. In other examples, consumption events may be unavailable or unusable by a direct measurement system for a variety of reasons. As a result, these unavailable consumption events cannot be used directly for defining the audience segment of interest. Furthermore, the unavailable consumption events cannot be included in subsequent behavioral modeling based on the consumption histories collected by the direct measurement system.
What is needed is a way to create a behavioral model that can be used to assess the suitability of entities for the delivery of online advertising and/or customized content based on behaviors, such as consumption events, which are not available in a consumption history.